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Tricia

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Is that the story ? the other one is: The owners wife froze and did 75 kick turns to get down the chute.
Nope, not kick turns. That's KT 22.
Its the 75mm cannon, and to be clear it was officially 75 Chute, but skiers who frequent Squaw have called it Chute 75 for so long that its rarely called 75 Chute, which was a take off of 75 Shoot.

I guess the history buff who told me about this got into the conversation with me because of my own fascination with cannons.


That would have been a sweet job!
Since we've gone off topic here. My dad was a gun buff and history buff back in 1976, so he and his buddy (both machinists) had some 1/2 scale replica cannon barrels made for ornamental purposes to celebrate the bi-centenial. Even though my dad and his friend couldn't bore the touch hole in them if they sold them(they sold several sans touch hole) they drilled the touch hole in theirs and shot the cannons off every big holiday. Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day.
The first few times, he'd shoot a ball (2" lead ball) when he shot, but we found out that the ball could travel close to a mile so he shot paper wads or other stuff that would disintegrate. Corn cobs are the best ;)
Since I was always a daddy's girl and was equally fascinated with cannons, he gave me one of his original 1976 cannons, which I still have, and we staged for avy control when we skied Chez Ziggy in March.

I've often thought about taking it somewhere to shoot it, but at this point I'd have to seriously clean the barrel.
I think I still have fuses laying around here somewhere. I'll have to look.
IMG_2592.jpeg
I have another story about how a dog who visited our house thought the cannon ball was a play ball and chewed the shit out of it.
 

Tony

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I'd like to see a picture of the cannon on top of Chute 75. I'd heard it was named Chute 75 because it was a 75% slope (where 100%=1 ft of rise for 1 ft of run=45 degrees). But that's not quite right as my research says Chute 75 is 38.3 degrees which is closer to 79% slope.

My cousin had a ranch near Santa Margarita, CA where he had a small cannon. I think it shot 3" balls. He would set it up near the ranchhouse and try to hit broken refrigerator that was in a field about 1500' away. I don't think he ever got very close, but it was entertaining.
 

Tricia

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My cousin had a ranch near Santa Margarita, CA where he had a small cannon. I think it shot 3" balls. He would set it up near the ranchhouse and try to hit broken refrigerator that was in a field about 1500' away. I don't think he ever got very close, but it was entertaining.
My dad and his buddy took their cannons out to a farm and shot them at a silo that was set to be torn down. That was a hoot.
 

skibob

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I've often thought about taking it somewhere to shoot it, but at this point I'd have to seriously clean the barrel.
I think I still have fuses laying around here somewhere. I'll have to look.
View attachment 46580
I have another story about how a dog who visited our house thought the cannon ball was a play ball and chewed the shit out of it.
And now everybody understands why @Tricia is this site's enforcer. "Velvet" indeed!

:duck:
 

Tricia

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CHUTE 75
Chute 75 once had a 75 mm cannon mounted at the top that was used for avalanche control on slopes across the way, such as The Slot and Tower 16.

The top of the Chute 75 drop in is at about 45 degrees with a cornice entrance, tipping up to 48 degrees on the skiers' left side. About halfway down the line, there's a narrow choke to navigate.

"Chute 75 is one of the most infamous runs at Squaw Valley," skier Cody Townsend says. "From fresh powder to spring slush, it skis well in nearly all conditions, and sustains a pitch of 35 degrees for nearly 1,500 vertical feet.”

Screen Shot 2018-05-23 at 7.21.52 AM.png
 

Tony

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Even though I'm not from Missouri, I would still like to see a picture of the cannon on KT.
I found the following in http://ppolinks.com/forestservicemuseum/2011_42_14.pdf
"Although not the first, the Olympic Games at Squaw Valley became one of the early uses of the
Recoilless Rifle in avalanche control. Participation by the Forest Service Snow Rangers was required
for their use. Four 75mm cannons and one 105mm were assigned to the Squaw Valley complex.
One gun on KT ‐22 covered the headwall and part of the men's downhill course. Another, on
Papoose Peak covered the men's giant slalom and women's downhill. A third sat near tower 13 of
the Squaw Peak Lift to cover the west face of KT‐22 to keep it from avalanching across the finish of
the men's downhill course. A fourth was kept in reserve. A final weapon was mounted on a truck so
that it could be moved around the area as needed, including areas that might threaten some of the
nordic events. All of the gun placements and powder caches were accessible by lift."
 

John Webb

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Nope, not kick turns. That's KT 22.
Its the 75mm cannon, and to be clear it was officially 75 Chute, but skiers who frequent Squaw have called it Chute 75 for so long that its rarely called 75 Chute, which was a take off of 75 Shoot.


he [dad] gave me one of his original 1976 cannons, which I still have, and we staged for avy control when we skied Chez Ziggy in March.

I't.
Oops, I've also skied Kt22 at Hunter a lot ! History can get foggy with time !

Avy control at Chez Ziggy (pict deleted) is very funny.! !
 

Tony

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What's the actual KT22 *trail*?
KT is not a trail, but the area or 'zone' serviced by the chair. And don't believe everything Squaw puts on the Internet as http://squawalpine.com/zones/kt-22 says "The zone is 2,000 vertical feet of steeps" when the lift is under 1,800' vertical and even hiking the peak does not give you 2,000'.

It's still one of the best lifts in the world and lines on a powder day reflect that.
 

Pequenita

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KT is not a trail, but the area or 'zone' serviced by the chair.

Well, yeah, I know that currently it's a zone, but what is being referred to in the article below as the location where the owner's wife did 22 kick turns down? West Face? Or the other side where the gully and women's downhill, etc. are?


Mind you, if I had to ski any of this on straight skis with leather boots, I would have done over 50 kick turns....
 

Tricia

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Well, yeah, I know that currently it's a zone, but what is being referred to in the article below as the location where the owner's wife did 22 kick turns down? West Face? Or the other side where the gully and women's downhill, etc. are?



Mind you, if I had to ski any of this on straight skis with leather boots, I would have done over 50 kick turns....
I got the impression, though I could be wrong, that the run under the lift line was the reference line for naming the KT 22.
Like I said, I could be wrong. :ogcool:
 

Leigh

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We were inspired to hit Squaw today so @Rainbow Jenny @Philpug and I loaded up the VW and went up early-ish. We were on snow by 9:15 and headed over to Shirley. The runs far skiers right skied well, while other areas were sluggish, although not completely sticky.
Shirley was shut down by 10:30 due to thunder/potential lightening, so we headed to Gold Coast and took a few runs before they started to close the rest of the lifts down.
It was fascinating to see how the snow is melting off Moseley's and 75 Chute
I snapped a few shots of the day.

Moseley's and 75 Chute
View attachment 46565
Siberia
View attachment 46566
@Rainbow Jenny and @Leigh
View attachment 46567
@Philpug
View attachment 46568
@Leigh and @Rainbow Jenny
View attachment 46569
Dark clouds getting darker
View attachment 46570
A rainbow over Reno
View attachment 46571


Nice meeting you guys yeserday!
 

Tricia

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Tricia

The Velvet Hammer
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Reno
Wow, seeing lightening in Reno. What's it looking like at higher elevations?
 
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